Composition for producing fire extinguishing foams and method



atented July 4,1950

COMPOSITION FOR PRODUCING FIRE EXTINGUISHING FOAMS AND METHOD No Drawing.

Application January 12, 1946,

Serial No. 641,013

10 Claims.

ii The present invention relates to fire extinguishing and to new compositions for extinguishing fires and more particularly to such compositions which when combined with water and a 885, Such as l P ce fire extinguishin 5 ing nozzle, in order to form the foam which is foams highly effective for extinguishing fires of applied t t flre h may b done b any flammable liquids. of the so-called mechanical methods of pro- It as a y been r pos d to prepar f a ducing fire extinguishing foam, as for example, forming solutions which contain certain wetting by entraining a gas, h as i i t moving agents and foam stabilizers. Preparations herestream of water into which the concentrated sotofore proposed are made up from various prolution is also introduced in any desired proporteins, such as soy bean proteins, proteins from tion. Depending on the concentration of the 110035, albumen, and blood. However, the foams starting solution, the ratio of -dilution may be produced from such compositions, while more or from 7 to 16 parts of water to 1 part of the conless efiective in extinguishing certain types of centrated solution. The ratios are expressed in fires, do not produce a foam which is satisfacterms of gallons of water to gallons of concentnrily stable toward heat. As a result, large trated solution. quantities of foam applied continuously and in The concentration of the surface tension resreat mass. and the bu ld up of thick foa uc n agent in the final aqueous solution which blankets are required for extinguishing the fires. 20 is converted into foam may range from approx- Such solutions, accordingly, have been unsatisimately 025-593 and that of the carboxy methyl factory in the extinguishment of spill and crash cellulose about 0.l-2%. However, the preferred fires, such as airplane crash fires, since in the proportions are approximately equal amounts of case of these fires, there are no protecting walls each on a pound per pound basis. A preferred toretain thick layers of foam. 50111151011 is One containing bout 1% of the sur- It is, accordingly, an object of our invention face tension reducing agent and 1% of a waterto produce solutions which readily form foam soluble salt of acarboxy methyl cellulose. and which produce fo s a have high heat The foams produced from such solutions are stability. characterized by their high heat stability as com- It is a further object of our invention to propared with the standard commercial protein duce foams which will extinguish fires with a foam, their slow drainage, ready spreading over thinner foam blanket. the flammable liquid, their ability to extinguish Other objects of our invention are to provide the fire with a thinner layer of foam, their lmteams which quickly spread and flow readily over permeability to the gases generated by the flamthe flammable liquid and possess self-sealing mable liquid, their large water content, and the qualities, so that if for any reason the blanket self-sealing tendency of the foam blanket to of foam is broken, the break quickly seals itself cover the break in case the foam blanket is and the fire is rapidly extinguished. ruptured. Our foams are characterized especially Another object of our invention is to provide y their great fl y hich enables them to solutions which generate foams that are highly blanket a fi q y since y fl w v ry adi impermeable to gases, thereby preventing evapover the surface of the fire, quickly covering the oration of the flammable liquid and quickly ex n ire rn n area. If h gaseous p r r k tm ishi th fire, through the foam cover, the break quickly seals A still further object of our invention is to and the flameis p dly uis dprovide a simple method for extinguishing 118m. Hlustrative of our invention are the following mable liquid fires, which extinguishes fires with examples! minimum amounts of foam. Example 1 Accc'rdmg Invention we com- For the production of a highly stable foam, the position containing a surface tension reducfollowm i a suit M f r I ing agent and a carboxy methyl cellulose. g s a e o mu More particularly, our invention comprises an N caprylyl, N octy1 taurine sodium salt 1 aqueous solution containing a surface tension Garbo meth l cellulose sodium salt 0 5 reducing agent and a. water-soluble salt of y carboxy methyl cellulose, such as, for exam- I pie, the sodium, potassium, or ammonium salts. When finely divided air is sucked into and dis- The solutions may be prepared in concentrated form and then be diluted with the proper amount of water in the foam generating apparatus, such as any standard fire foam form- 3 h'ibuted throughout the solution as by use of a conventional foam forming nozzle, an extremely thick. line bubble and stable foam is formed which may be applied to the fires and which extinguishesthesamewithinafewseconds.

If desired, the concentration of the taurine may beashighaslopartsbywelghtandthatof the carboxy methyl cellulose also 10 parts. The resulting solution may then introduced in a moving stream of water in the proper proportion together with air to form a foam whichis applied to the fire.

Example 2 Another formula which produces a highly stable foam and has a high foaming power is the following:

This solution may be converted into a foam by any suitable manner as by heating air into the same or by using the usual type of foam forming nozzle.

A gasoline fire covering an area of 475 square feet and involving 100 gallons of'regular motor gasoline was extinguished in only 37 seconds when foam prepared from the solution of Example 2 was applied thereto at the rate of 200 gallons of solution per minute through a foam nozzle after the fire had been given a lO-second pre-burn. The extinguishing action was prompt and astoundingly decisive. The foam blanket, although quite thin, provided effective cover and prevented any re-ignition of the gasoline by the hot metal walls of the tank.

When a commercial protein foam was applied to a second fire involving the same amount of gasoline under the same conditions, the fire was 'not extinguished.

The heat stability of the foam produced by our compositions as compared with the standard commercial protein foams is indicated by the following tests:

A half-inch layer of foam made from a 6% solution of the commercial foam referred to above was formed on the surface of gasoline which has been placed in a 5-inch diameter Petri dish. A Bunsen burner flame was then directed on the surface of the foam until the gasoline ignited and the time required was measured. In the case of the commercial foam, the foam blanket was burned off and the gasoline was ignited within 23 seconds. when the same test was applied, except that the foam layer was prepared from an aqueous solution of 1% of N-caprylyl, N- octyl taurine sodium salt and 0.5% of carbon methyl cellulose sodium salt, the time required to burn off the foam blanket and ignite the gasoline wu 42 seconds.

Furthermore, the amount of foani produced by the same amount of solution was considerably greater in the case of the solutions comprising our invention as compared with the above-mentioned commercial foam. This is demonstrated by the following test:

50 cc. of a 6% commercial foam solution was shaken in a 500 cc. graduate. The amount of foam formed was 375 cc. The same amount of solution made up of 1% of N-caprylyl, N-octyl taurine sodium salt and 0.5% of carboxy methyl cellulose sodium salt was shaken for the same amount of time and formed 500 cc. of foam.

While the standard commercial protein foams require the presence of certain salts, such as ironsalts.toincreasetheirheatstability,the foam forming solutions formed according to our invention produce excellent heat stable foams without the addition of other ingredients. However.whereitisdesired,saltsmaybeadded whichhavethiseifechsuchasferromchlm'ide, andferrous sulfate.

In addition to sodium lauryl sulfate in the above example, there may 'be used in general othersaltsofothersulfuricestersofhighaliphatic alcohols containing more than 8 carbon atoms as, for example, the sodium, potassium, and ammonium salts of nonyl, decyL'imdecyl. hexadecyl and octadecyl sulfates or mixtures thereof. In addition to the N-cambl, N-octyl taurine, there may be used N-ae'yl, N-alkyl" taurinesinwhichtheacylandthealkylradicalseachcontainatleast'lcarbonatomsaafor instance, N -heptoyl, N-heptyl taurine; N- N-octyi taurine; N-2-ethyl hexoyl, N-octyl taurine; N-lauroyl, N-lauryl taurine; and N-dodeeyl. N-amyl taurine; and the alkali metal salts thereof as, for example, the sodium, potamium, and ammonium salts. Examples of other surface tension reducing agents which may be used include the alkali metal salts of the dialbl esters of sulfosuccinic acid, e. g., dihexyl sodium sulfosuccinate, diamyl sodium sulfosuccinate, dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate, and diisobutyl sodium sulfosuccinate; the alkali metal and ammonium salts of trialkyl sulfotricarballylates, suchasthesodiumandammoniumtriisobutyl sulfotricarballylate; alkali metal salts of albinaphthalenesulfonic acids, e. g., sodium diisopropyl naphthalenesulfonate; pentadecanone sodi-, um sulfonate and alkyl-phenol-ethylene oxide tion products, e. g., the diisobutylphenol-ethylene oxide condensation product. The advantages of our novel compositions are that they readily form abundant foam and that the foam produced is highly stable to heat, requiring no metal salts as heretofore required with protein foams to stabilize them against heat. In addition, the foam is highly stable toward the flammable liquid to which it is applied. It floats on the liquid for very long periods of time. Qwing to its high stability, re-ignition or flashbacks of the flammable liquid, when it comes in contact with hot metal, is prevented by the heat resistant fire-smothering blanket produced by the siderable amount of water which aids in the extinguishment of the fire, and entrains the water in the foam bubbles so that the foam drains very slightly. Another ,feature of our foam producing compositions is that they can form small sine bubbles and that the foam can be formed from relatively concentrated solutions of the ingredients, thereby making it unn to store and to transport large quantities of liquid.

Still another advantage of our compositions is that some of the surface tension reducing agents used form solutions which have a positive spreading coeflicient, when applied to water-immiscible flammable liquids, such as benzene, toluene. xylene, kerosene, fuel oils and turpentine. By this, we mean that the surface tension of the solution plus the interfacial tension is less than the surface tension of the flammable liquid. As a result of such positive spreading coefilcient, the solutions have a tendency spontaneously to cover 75 the flammable liquid with an aqueous film, thus ,aam

reducing the rate of evaporation and aiding in the extinguishment oi the fire. tions exert a double fire extinguishing action, namely, that of the aqueous film which tends to reduce evaporation and that of the team which reenforces the film and smothers the fire. As a result of the action of the aqueous film on the surface of the fire, a thinner foam blanket will smother the fire. This means a considerable economy in the amount of foam solution required to extinguish a fire.

Because of the positive spreading coeificient, the foam tends to be self-sealing so that if the foam blanket is ruptured, it readily tends to seal itself and extinguish any flames in the area which has been uncovered. Since only a thin foam blanket is necessary to extinguish the fire, our loam solutions are highly effective for extinguishing crash and spill fires where there are no retaining walls to permit building up of heavy or thick foam blankets.

We claim:

1. A composition of matter suitable for producing fire extinguishing foam which essentially consists of an aqueous solution of approximately 1% of an N-acyl, N-alkyl taurine sodium salt and approximately 0.5% of carboxy methyl cellulose sodium salt.

2. A composition of matter suitable for producing fire extinguishing foam which essentially consists of an aqueous solution of about 1% of an alkali metal salt of a sulfuric acid ester oi a higher aliphatic alcohol and about 0.5-2% oi carboxy methyl cellulose sodium salt.

3. A method of extinguishing fires which comprises applying to the burning material a foam produced from a composition which consists essentially of an aqueous solution of about 1% of N-capryl, N-octyl taurine sodium salt and about 0.5% of carboxy methyl cellulose.

4. A method of extinguishing fires which comprises applying to the burning material a foam produced from a composition which consists essentially of an aqueous solution of about 1% of lauryl sodium sulfate and about 1% of carboxy methyl cellulose sodium salt.

5. A composition of matter for producing fire extinguishing foams, which essentially consists oi an aqueous solution of a member of the group consisting of anionic and non-ionic, non-saponaceous surface tension reducing agents in a concentration of 0.25 to 5% and a carboxy methyl cellulose in a concentration of 0.1 to 2%.

8. A composition of matter according to claim 5, wherein the surface tension reducing agent is a N-acyl, N-alkyl taurine sodium salt.

2. A composition of matter according to 0 Thus, our soluf' wherein the surface reducing agent is an alliali metal salt or a sulturic acid ester of a higher aliphatic alcohol. v

8. A composition 0! matter for producing fire extinguishing roams which essentially consists of an aqueous solution of a member of the group consisting of anionic and non-ionic, non-sapona- 9. A method of extinguishing fires which comprises applying to the burning'materiai a foam produced from a composition which essentially consists of an aqueous solution of a member of the group. consisting of anionic and non-ionic, non-saponaceous surface-tension reducing agents in a concentration of 0.25% to 5%, and a carboxymethyl cellulose in a concentration of 0.1% to 2%.

10. A composition for producing fire extinguishing foam which essentially consists 01 an aqueous solution of a member of the group consisting of anionic and non-ionic, non-sapous surface-tension reducing agents in a concentration of 0.25 to 5%, and carboxy methyl cellulose sodium salt in a concentration of 0.1 to 2%.

r "I s -a F. BUSSE. JH M. ERT.

1P. DmYE.

5:; NCES CITED The following reie slices are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Date Number Name 1,843,420 Guenther Feb. 2, 1932 2,028,091 Jaeger Jan. 14, 1938 2,045,015 Koerding June 23, was 2,154,231 Daimler Apr. 11, 1930 2,186,088 Holter July 11, 1989 2,258,587 ---.-t'-. Oct. 14, 1041 2,815,375 Nawiasky 30, 1943 2,389,781 Burgeni Nov. 27, 1045 FOGN PATENTS Number Country Date 209,469 Switzerland July 16, 10

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Goldsmith: "Non-Ionic Surface Active Agents, in Chemical Industries, March 1943. 

5. A COMPOSITION OF MATTER FOR PRODUCING FIRE EXTINGUISHING FOAMS, WHICH ESSENTIALLY CONSISTS OF AN AQUEOUS SOLUTION OF A MEMBER OF THE GROUP CONSISTING OF ANIONIC AND NONIONIC, NON-SAPONACEOUS SURFACE TENSION REDUCING AGENTS IN A CONCENTRATION OF 0.25 TO 5% AND A CARBOXY METHYL CELLULOSE IN A CONCENTRATION OF 0.1 TO 2%. 